Help! Paint choices...

[98GTW]

I just bought a '77 911S. It has a little rust and is being repaired and repainted.
My dilemna: The original mocha(?) brown doesn't grab me. The guy doing the restoration says "leave it original, or the value goes way down," but he's willing to put on any color I choose.
The options seem to be:
1) Leave it original brown
2) Choose an authentic early 911 color
3) Anything I want.
BTW, the interior is tan leather.
Thanks for your opinions.
Dave

[89911]

Paint it anything you want. If it is a original 73S or something high in demand, then I would be concerned about the originality value. The type of paint job will determine its resale value to a point.

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8 9 9 1 1, The last of the line.

I agree that you should pick the colour you like most. It will not decrease in value unless you pick some eccentric colour that noone but yourself likes.

I had mine repainted in arctic silver and it looks great

[martinh]

I also have a 77. Mine's in metallic brown, which in some lights looks good (I guess this is why I bought a brown car), in other lights it just looks, well, brown...

My paint is still good so I'm going to leave it until I can afford the time/expense of a good quality respray in a new colour, nothing looks worse than a badly done colour change.

Silver's got to be the prettiest colour for a 911 of any age, although non-met. paint is probably easier to live with. I thought about some of the original seventies blues - Mexico Blue, Gulf Blue, Arrow Blue, Albert Blue. Does anybody have any photos of cars in these colours? I'd love to see what shades they are.

[epbrown]

The color change won't matter if the person does a good job, and a good job is pretty much defined as "yuo can't tell it was ever a diffent color." There's a red mid-70s Targa that's been on ebay a few times, and the car is still mocha brown in the trunk! Stuff like that is what devalues a car.

Emanuel

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Everybody wants a normal life and a cool car;
most people settle for the car." Chris Titus
1966 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow
1983 Porsche 911 SC Targa

[Doug Zielke]

Gulf Racing Blue!
(With wide orange center stripe, if ya' dare.)

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'81 SC Coupe (aka: "Blue Bomber")
Canada West Region PCA
The Blue Bomber's Website

[RarlyL8]

I've posted on this topic before hoping to have others avoid my mistake.
If you wish to sell the car in the near future go with a popular color (red, black, white, silver, in that order).
If this is your baby and you want to keep it for a long time then by all means go with the color YOU like.
I wanted my 911 in silver. Silver with black interior and wheels just does it for me. I let my mechanic talk me into red. It looks nice but sticks out like a beacon. My wife sais it actually "glows" on a sunny day.
The process of having the color changed was so extremely labor intensive and painfull that I will NEVER do it again. So red she will stay.

[island911]

I'm with the keep it brown crowd. After all Mocha Brown is an authentic early 911 color!
Mocha Brown didn't "grab-me" either, until I saw one that had been taken care of. With a high gloss that color has "grab-me" depth.
Really nice w/ the tan leather interior. With the money you will save by keeping the original color, you can buy years of bi-monthly delailing. If the price difference isn't that much, don't have that shop touch your car.

---

'81 Platinum Metalic SC COUPE

[Saffs]

Firstly, I would keep it original. It's an authentic mid-seventies colour and it will develop in to a positive reflection of the cars era and, give time, it will look really cool and people will see it as part of it's appeal - I love the colour anyhow and would think it would look like mid-seventies chic.
But, if you are going to change it, how about lime green!

Not many 911s this colour (wonder why?!) and it's easy to find in a car park and has loads of, yet more, seventies chic!
But mostly, you present colour is the car and totally representative of your cars era.
Anthony


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'75 911S Targa
'81 BMW Alpina C1 2.3

[Mark 69 911]

In the past a Mocha Brown used Porsche was the hardest colour to sell. Very few people liked it.
I remember when you actually deducted $ for a Mocha Brown 911.
I personally think that it is a very, very ugly colour. And it has no place on a 911. Original or not, do yourself a BIG favor and change the colour to another colour that was available during your year of production. You'll be happy you did.
Good Luck.

[epbrown]

If I remember correctly it was Dr. Porsche's favorite color for the cars. Personally, I think it's okay on the early cars, espcially with the tan interior. But I can relate to the desire to change it. Both my Rolls-Royce and my SC are not my favorite shades (I'd prefer the RR to be black with tan interior, the Porsche to be silver with black), but I went for "the best car I could afford" in each case and ended up happy as a result.

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Everybody wants a normal life and a cool car;
most people settle for the car." Chris Titus
1966 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow
1983 Porsche 911 SC Targa

[island911]

Gotta like the lime green!


And for your period engineering appreciation:

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'81 Platinum Metalic SC COUPE

[avendlerdp]

Paint it any color you want. Check the BRG 911 I have. Not original but gets many compiments. Alex


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[N11Porsche]

Mocha Brown is taking a beating here. Not my favorite P-Car color but it isn't ugly either. check mine out. The car gets plenty of compliments.......

http://www.pelicanparts.com/pmpre/images/N11Porsche/P-Car2.jpg

Or this: http://www.pelicanparts.com/pmpre/images/N11Porsche/P-Car.jpg

Bill Carcot
1979 911SC
Diablo Region, P.C.A.

[This message has been edited by N11Porsche (edited 06-30-2001).]

[Jack Olsen]

No substitute. Black on black. Porsche.

Click on the image for a larger version.



Just my opinion, of course.

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Jack Olsen
My Rennlist home page • My Pelican Gallery page • My Porsche Owners Gallery page

[This message has been edited by JackOlsen (edited 07-01-2001).]

[Bill Douglas]

I repainted my Mocha brown SC to silver and it looks awsome. Hey Mikkel, I like those Carrera Cup wheels on your 80's car. Ummmm, you have me wondering. When I was considering changing the color people said it would devalue the car etc, next buyer wouldn't want a non origional color etc. Well i took the attitude the car is for me - not the next owner and I'll do what i like. It's not like I'm repainting the Mona Lisa or something. I haven't regretted it for a moment and love the color.

[This message has been edited by Bill Douglas (edited 07-01-2001).]

[zotman72]

As everyone else have said. Please yourself
not the next owner. Do it right of course
with a Porsche color.
Bill
72T
Sepia Brown (baby poo)--> Gulf Blue

[stormcrow]

Just had mine painted the original color copper brown for 78

[autobonrun]

I've seen "mocha", "metallic", and "copper" listed as brown colors. My 79SC is listed as "tobacco metallic" which I would never paint another color. I think these colors are representative of the period as stated earlier. One question however, are all these representative of different shades for the various years, or for example, is mocha brown the same as tobacco metallic?

[N11Porsche]

Autobonrun: This is mocha brown on my 1979 911SC:




Bill Carcot
1979 911SC
Diablo Region, P.C.A.